India grinding to a halt in wake of oil strikes

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India ground to a near-total standstill today as a strike by oil employees left the country suffering a crippling fuel shortage.

Nearly 80 per cent of petrol stations in Delhi, the capital, and Mumbai, the financial centre, ran out of fuel by this afternoon, as authorities refused to give in to the demands of 55,000 workers striking at two government-run oil companies.

Tonight, it was announced that two of the biggest unions behind the strikes had called off their industrial action after huge pressure from the Indian Government, indicating that the crisis may be about to thaw, although ten others